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With found footage horror movies increasingly flooding the marketplace, it's becoming harder and harder for such films to stand out from the pack. The Den attempts to do so by adding a cyber element that tells its story from the viewpoint of webcams.
The Plot
Ecstatic after earning a grant for her thesis, LA-based grad student Elizabeth Benton (Melanie Papalia) commences a social study of the interactions on a Chatroulette-esque webcam-powered online community called The Den.
She immerses herself in the site, staying logged on 24/7 and recording all of her communications with members in order to study "a unique aspect of human behavior as it is seen in its most transparent form," whatever that means.
During one of her chat sessions, Elizabeth is contacted by an anonymous individual named Pyagrl*16 who claims "her" camera is broken and thus can only show a still photo of a pretty young girl. Without warning, the feed cuts to a video of the same girl tied up and then brutally killed by a shadowy figure. Shocked, Elizabeth contacts the police, who look at the video but blow it off as a prank. She isn't so sure, however, and her fears become even more ingrained when someone begins hacking into her computer and making her life a living hell: deleting files, sending messages as if they were from her and targeting her contacts as the next potential victims.
The End Result
The webcam approach to found footage isn't new -- Paranormal Activity 4 used it heavily, and the lesser-known Megan Is Missing utilized it almost exclusively -- but The Den still manages to make it feel refreshing within the glut of first-person fright flicks on the market.
Granted, to truly enjoy it, you have to overlook the fact that everyone for some reason chooses to video chat rather than just talk on the phone. Do you really need to see my face to ask me if you should bring beer when you come over?
The real power of the movie, though, is how terrifyingly realistic it is. I'm not talking about the immersive, first-person aspect (although it's well done and innovative in its ability to capture events on screen), but rather the fact that this sort of thing could theoretically happen. It's a "cyber home invasion" film that taps into the same sense of vulnerability that made traditional home invasion fright flicks like The Strangers, You're Next and Funny Games so powerful. The feeling of helplessness is palpable, as viewers can readily place themselves in the role of a victim of identity theft or hacking taken to the extreme. WAY to the extreme.
Only in the final 15 minutes or so does The Den begin to lose its grip on reality, threatening to turn itself into a Saw movie, but just as it seems it's lost control of its own plot, it rights itself by pulling back the curtain and delivering a conclusion that is as satisfying as it is plausible (well, given this is a horror movie).
The Skinny
- Acting: C+ (Not quite as natural as it should be for this type of film, but solid enough to not be a distraction.)
- Direction: B- (Delivers tense and creepy moments with shots that don't feel far-fetched or overly convenient; a stellar debut from Zachary Donohue.)
- Script: B (Strikes a chord of realistic terror with a nicely conceived finale.)
- Gore/Effects: B- (A couple of well-executed gore scenes.)
- Overall: B- (An innovative, invasively thrilling take on home invasion films.)
The Den is directed by Zachary Donohue and is rated R by the MPAA for strong bloody violence, terror, some sexuality, graphic nudity and language. Release date: March 14, 2014 (limited theatrical release and on demand).
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